Helldivers 2: new anti-cheat breaks mods – players hit the game on Steam
With Update 7.2, Arrowhead replaces GameGuard with Easy Anti-Cheat. Because popular mods no longer work, recent Steam reviews have slipped to Mixed.
Symbolic image · Photo: Liam Dawe/GamingOnLinux, PNG version by VulcanSphere / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped and resized)
Helldivers 2 is being review-bombed on Steam once again. The trigger is Update 7.2, Devoid of Liberty: alongside a new warbond and balance changes, developer Arrowhead Game Studios also switched its anti-cheat, replacing GameGuard with the kernel-level Easy Anti-Cheat.
As a result, mods that add scripts or change the user interface are no longer supported, and the game will not start if it detects them. Among those affected is the ambitious fan mod Custom Galactic War, with its own maps and multi-faction battles, which its team says is down for the foreseeable future. According to Arrowhead, purely cosmetic mods without scripts still work – though Game Rant says many cosmetic mods are affected nonetheless.
According to Game Rant, recent Steam reviews have dropped to Mixed, with only 57 per cent positive, and almost all negative reviews mention the anti-cheat change. It is not the first time the co-op shooter from Sony and Arrowhead has been punished in this way.